Former sheriff gets clean audit report

Former Whitley County Sheriff Todd Shelley has received a clean audit regarding his 2020 tax settlement, according to Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts Mike Harmon’s office.

Shelley retired on Nov. 30, 2021, with 13 months remaining on his term in office.

“The former sheriff’s financial statement fairly presents the taxes charged, credited and paid for the period May 16, 2020, through April 15, 2021, in conformity with the regulator basis of account,” Harmon’s office wrote in a recent release.

“The auditor noted no instances of noncompliance. The auditor also noted no matters involving internal control over financial reporting and its operation that were considered to be material weaknesses.”

State law requires the auditor to annually audit the accounts of each county sheriff. In compliance with this law, the auditor issues two sheriff’s reports each year: one reporting on the audit of the sheriff’s tax account, and the other reporting on the audit of the fee account used to operate the office.

As part of the audit process, the auditor must comment on noncompliance with laws, regulations, contracts and grants. The auditor must also comment on material weaknesses involving the internal control over financial operations and reporting.

“These audits are a common occurrence mandated by the state government and are used to ensure accountability. The audit staff stated they received ‘no findings’ and had ‘no comments’ for our office,” Interim Sheriff Danny Moses wrote on the department’s Facebook page.

“Carrie Baker is the office staff supervisor. She works diligently to ensure all of our bookkeeping is done and budgets are balanced. Please join the department in congratulating Carrie and show her that her hard work does not go unnoticed!”

The sheriff’s responsibilities include collecting property taxes, providing law enforcement and performing services for the county fiscal court and courts of justice. The sheriff’s office is funded through statutory commissions and fees collected in conjunction with these duties.

Between May 16, 2020, and April 15, 2021, the sheriff’s department collected $1,090,140 in county taxes, $2,274,788 for special taxing districts, $4,343,268 in taxes for school districts, and $1,817,334 in taxes for the state.

The audit report can be found on page A-5 in this week’s edition of the News Journal or by logging onto https://auditor.ky.gov/Auditreports/Whitley/2020WhitleySTS-audit.pdf.